an appeals court blocks the law pushed through by state republicans. as romney continues to campaign in ohio, president obama is back in the white house this morning. nbc's tracie pots joins us now with all the latest from washington, tracie, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. good morning, everyone. the president is closing the gap in a number of these battleground states and it continues to say the $5 trillion tax cut romney's proposing would add to the deficit and romney insists it is absolutely not true. >> if he says it's not true, then it's not true. okay. >> reporter: in battleground ohio, president obama insists mitt romney's tax cuts will add $5 trillion to the tax cuts. >> if it's true it's not going to add to the deficit, that leaves only one option. that's asking middle class families to foot the bill. >> the president's charge of a $5 trillion tax cut is obviously inaccurate and wrong. >> reporter: romney also in ohio mocked the obama campaign's latest add to cut funding for pbs. >> big bird. big bird. he's focused on saving bi